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Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (1983)

Loved playing it. The arcade I frequented in my hometown had the sit-down version. Every time I went in there I reclaimed the high score.
 
What did you Trekkies think of the numerous home versions of the game, which among other ports, included:
* Atari 2600 (Sega, 1983)
* Atari 8-bit computers and 5200 console (Sega, 1983)
* Apple II (Sega, 1983)
* Commodore 64 (Sega, 1983)
* ColecoVision (Coleco, 1984)

~Ben
 
I had the Texas Instruments 994A version, and enjoyed discovering that you could lure Klingons into perpetually circling around you, making for easy turkey shoots.
 
Brings back memories. I remember that at the time I thought it was the most amazing thing imaginable. I loved the sound of the torpedoes.
 
I played the arcade version until I got burned out on it. Probably why I never bothered getting it for the Atari 2600 or C64.
 
Rocketeer said:
I played the arcade version until I got burned out on it. Probably why I never bothered getting it for the Atari 2600 or C64.
Click to expand...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkRt7Vyebzk

Here is Sega's official commercial of this game for the home console and computer versions. A kid dressed up as Spock says "It's inhuman."

Of the home versions, I would consider the ColecoVision version (released by Coleco itself, in 1984) number 1 graphically, followed by the Atari 8-bit computer/5200 console version (the 5200 used much of the same internals as the 8-bit computer version).

~Ben
 
I played this game a lot on the Atari 2600. As a kid it was fun to play this game in the dark, pretending you were in command of a starship - protecting star bases, resupplying, going through asteroid fields etc. Played the Colecovision version later on, and enjoyed it a little more, that is until I discovered EGA Trek a few years later.

I never played the arcade version, although the arcade near me had the arcade version - I was always playing Star Wars Arcade.
 
A friend of mine has a MAME arcade cabinet with Sega's Star Trek installed. One day I fiddled with the game configuration settings and got it to recognize the rotary "spinner" wheel control as the arcade units had. Trust me, if you've only played the home versions, the control is NOTHING like the spinner version, which really lets to wheel around and zigzag. The photon torpedo on the arcade game was amazing, and no home version really replicated it.
 
I noticed that regarding this game's appearance in Steve Kelley's book Star Trek: The Collectibles, there is several errata in the games section of the book:

This game is erroneously called Star Trek: The Arcade Game (its informal name) and was listed as having a 1979 release date. The 1979 release date is also incorrect for the Vectrex home version (it was actually released in late 1982, shortly before the release of Sega's Strategic Operations Simulator and its home versions).

They did get the information right for the Bally pinball version, along with the Milton Bradley Microvision game "Phaser Strike."

The ColecoVision cartridge version of SOS, released by Coleco in 1984, is curiously omitted, while the book does make mention of both the Atari 2600 and Texas Instruments TI-99/4A cartridge ports (both published by Sega in 1983). Like the arcade version, the TI port also contains speech.

Other SOS home version omissions from the book are ports for the Atari XL computers, the 5200 console (uses same graphical hardware as the XL computers), the Apple IIe, and the Commodore VIC-20 and 64 ports.
 
i remember playing this for the first time and not knowing w.t.h was going on, i wasted my money pretty fast that first time. now i own one and the vectrex version as well.( model sega g08 standup version could be converted to other sega games by replacing the boards in the cab etc.) i have the g08, not the dedicated version.
 
I enjoyed playing the arcade stand-up version and the sit-down version. I was in college at the time and my major was Computer Science, so I got to play the Apple II version of this game as well on campus. I met a fellow student who was an Apple II guru and he was able to break the copy protection and give me copy of it.

I had an Atari 2600 but I did not know that there was a version for it, if I had known I would have bought it.

I also enjoyed playing the Star Wars arcade game with wire frame graphics, you got to dog fight against Tie Fighters and try to blow up the Death Star with your X-wing Fighter. This arcade game also had a stand-up version and a sit-down version.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\
 
yes i have a star wars multi cab as well its a star wars with empire strikes back boards so you can play both games by flipping a switch.it has the old red flyback that is in need of repair so i cant play it right now.
 
ClassicTVMan81 said:
http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=thumbs&db=videodb&id=1074

Gameplay video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa3MRQXDS3U
(by VoxVid)

I wonder how many of you remember this 1983 Sega effort?

Also, I wonder how many of the ST cast members ever played this game, or if it had ever been seen at any ST convention?

~Ben
Click to expand...

I can safely say that MANY of the cast members saw this game, as there was a ST Sega stand up arcade machine on Ebay about 7 years ago, autographed by many of the cast including Majel and Gene. I was high bidder on it for a while, and then, at the time realized I couldn't be the guy in Manhattan with a studio apt and a Trek Arcade machine in it!
 
I know somebody who has the original cabinet for the sit-down version of the game. It's a mostly complete cabinet including the paddle controller and the four button control cluster, although the electronics were fried and removed decades ago. The white plastics have yellowed somewhat with age even though they're not exposed to sun and the acrylic panels behind and above the seat cracked, although the "roof" was intact the last I saw. It's just been sitting in his basement for many years. I considered buying it off him, but he wasn't interested in selling and I realized I don't really have the room for it anyway. No idea what his plans are for it. Would be interesting to install a computer with MAME and the ROM image in it. But every time I sat in it, I was reminded of how uncomfortable the seat was.
 
11Alive said:
I know somebody who has the original cabinet for the sit-down version of the game. It's a mostly complete cabinet including the paddle controller and the four button control cluster, although the electronics were fried and removed decades ago. The white plastics have yellowed somewhat with age even though they're not exposed to sun and the acrylic panels behind and above the seat cracked, although the "roof" was intact the last I saw. It's just been sitting in his basement for many years. I considered buying it off him, but he wasn't interested in selling and I realized I don't really have the room for it anyway. No idea what his plans are for it. Would be interesting to install a computer with MAME and the ROM image in it. But every time I sat in it, I was reminded of how uncomfortable the seat was.
Click to expand...
The SEGA vector monitors used on this as well as on Space Fury and Tac-Scan were notorious for burning out!

~Ben
 
The only two games i ever tried in a arcade that had cabinets were Tron disc's, and Star Trek SOS, Tron disc has a stick and i fathomed out what i had to do in seconds, ST SOS had a chair with about 6 buttons, and i think i ejected Finney and the ion pod into space by mistake in the first few button press, very confusing game, but still very amazing for the time.
 
ClassicTVMan81 said:
What did you Trekkies think of the numerous home versions of the game, which among other ports, included:
* Atari 2600 (Sega, 1983)
Click to expand...

I actually have this version of the game. It's not spectacular, like most Atari 2600 games based on licenses, but it's playable and fun.
 
There is a sit-down version of the game at Weirs Beach on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire at the Funspot Family Fun Center.

They also have the original vector-graphics Star Wars game and the Voyager Elite Force game.

I go every summer to pop a few quarters in the Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funspot_Family_Fun_Center
 
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